Undergraduate Thesis Workshops

The honors/senior thesis is an opportunity for undergraduates to advance knowledge in a meaningful and often transformative way. This hands-on, writing-focused workshop series covers strategies for finishing your thesis with time to spare. Come join a community of fellow thesis writers and find out how you can craft your findings into a coherent, compelling, and well-written thesis in seven weeks. Join us for one or all sessions! Scroll down to RSVP.

This workshop provides the roadmap for your research process over the next seven weeks. We will discuss strategies for making steady progress on your project and revisit the resources available to you on campus. You will leave with a concrete timeline for completing your project and the toolkit to move from your current draft to a successful final product.

Spring Break is often a productive time for thesis writers. With a break from your daily coursework, you can now focus on what you’re passionate about: Your research. This all-day retreat provides a focused space to immerse yourself in the writing process. You will engage in a series of exercises to inspire and activate the writer in you, and will leave with actual writing accomplished and the momentum needed to move forward.

This workshop covers strategies for organizing your readings into a lit review that sings. We will discuss concrete tools for organizing your sources’ arguments and putting your project in conversation with scholars in your field. You will come away with the know-how to generate a strong lit review - one that reveals the significance, originality, and potential of your research.

This workshop offers strategies for refining your research question and paper organization to reflect the shifting terrain of your project. We will review qualities of an intellectually significant research question, as well as strategies for plotting your chapters and presenting your findings in a coherent and concise manner. You will leave with a clearer understanding of the overall direction of your research, and a renewed sense of focus to complete your project.

This workshop is designed to get your writing juices flowing. We will cover creative strategies for sustaining your stamina and renewing your energy when working on a long-term writing project. Whether you are 5, 20, or 50 pages into your thesis, you will come away with the tools to stay inspired, focused, and motivated as you enter the last weeks of your project.

This workshop covers strategies for cultivating your critical eye to improve your paper. You will acquire the tools to deepen your analysis, bolster your organization, and enliven your writing. Whether you are incorporating your advisor’s feedback or restructuring an entire chapter, you will come away with an enhanced understanding that writing is rewriting and that the best way to strengthen your research is through revision.

Now that you’ve collected and pored through your data, written and re-written pages of your thesis, and are eager to see your vision come to fruition, you can count on this all-day writing retreat to provide you with the space, the push, and the camaraderie necessary to sprint through the finish line. You will be reminded of how far you’ve come and how little left you've got to go.